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Libertarians in the GOP

Ron Paul elevated the idea of libertarians working within the GOP to bring libertarian ideology to the mainstream.

Is that idea working? I have my doubts.

For one, it has become apparent to me that the establishment GOP does not want the libertarians in their “house.” Their candidates are blocked at every turn within the GOP. Their ideology is shrugged off and discarded in their private meetings. Those that present these ideas, in some cases, are even removed from whatever positions they held within the GOP. Bottom line, the GOP does not want us. That should have been clear when those that supported Ron Paul in the presidential primaries were silenced everywhere.

Also, by working within the GOP, I believe it could be even detrimental to libertarian ideology in general. Because liberty has become a keyword due to the rising tide of libertarianism in American, the GOP has become to co-opt this word. To them, liberty means something that is not what it is. Liberty to the GOP and liberty to libertarians is something completely different. The “liberty for me but not for thee” crowd is the dominant faction in the GOP and if these people are allowed to hold the precious word of liberty hostage and if the libertarians within the GOP continue to assimilate, then I fear for the future of liberty.

If you, as a libertarian, choose to remain with the GOP and try to fight for your ideology, you have to understand that there is a war on the word liberty within that Party and you must be willing to fight that war and free the word liberty from those that would pervert the word to suit it to their own ideology. Remember, you belong to an organization in which one of its state leaders defined liberty as: “Liberty is not doing what you want. It is doing what you should.” Liberty does not mean the same to these people as it does to you.

Personally, I believe that the only political party that truly espouses the idea of liberty is the Libertarian Party. I would prefer that all of those red-headed libertarian stepchildren of the GOP leave the GOP and come help the Libertarian Party fight for liberty. But that’s just my opinion. The reason that the Libertarian Party is not as strong as it could in part could be because of those that choose to remain in the GOP and try to be a part of a club that doesn’t want them or their ideology.

The word liberty has become tainted and I believe that libertarians should fight back to keep the word from being further tainted and ultimately to keep the word pure to its meaning.